Zumwalt 12 Vow to Take Arrests to Trial

Zumwalt 12 Head to Arraignment on August 2 for BIW ‘Christening’ Arrests

Vow to Take the Case to Trial

The Zumwalt 12, arrested at Bath Iron Works (BIW) in Maine on June 18, were charged with ‘Obstructing a public way’ and will appear in West Bath District Court at 1:00 pm on August 2.

The Zumwalt 12 intends to plead not guilty and will seek a unified trial. Bar Harbor attorney Lynne Williams will represent the group.

According to Zumwalt 12 member Connie Jenkins (Orono), “We felt we were carrying out our responsibility as citizens to use the first amendment to speak against expensive and provocative US endless wars. As we can see from the recent “Chilcot investigation” in the UK, that found the legal justifications for military action were far from satisfactory, we in the US have a legal and moral responsibility to stand against these wars – and to prevent the next ones.”

John Morris (New Gloucester) also a member of the Zumwalt 12 said, “We will seek a unified trial so that we can communicate with the greater community why we did what we did at BIW on June 18. These arrests for non-violent civil disobedience carry on the long tradition of such actions at the shipyard. We want to see BIW converted to build commuter rail systems, solar, wind, and tidal power which are urgently needed to help us deal with climate change. We have taken these steps in order that our children and grandchildren can have a real future.”

Friday, July 15, 2016

Citizens Revolt in South Korea

Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn visited the town of Seongju, which was
tapped as the site for the deployment of an advanced U.S. missile
defense system, on Friday, in the face of strong opposition from the
residents who questioned the safety and legitimacy of the government's
decision.

The trip is seen as a move to alleviate concerns that residents may
have about the health issues related to the missile system's powerful
radar and questions raised about the fairness of the government's
decision-making process.

"I would like to apologize for making
the decision without prior notice," Hwang said during his visit, adding
that the government will make efforts to ease residents' concerns over
the safety.

During his visit, however, protesters threw water bottles and eggs at Hwang, reflecting their anger over the deployment.

The prime minister was blocked by resentful residents and physically barred from leaving the county for more than six hours.

There is a real revolt going on in South Korea. The US is forcing the South Korean government to deploy THAAD 'missile offense' launchers and the people know that it makes them a prime target. (Even worse the US wants South Korea to pay for the US missile deployments.) Koreans can see the provocative steps the US is taking in the region against China and they know how crazy the leadership in the US actually is. They've been through one war involving the US already and are not interested in another.

I've long said that the Koreans are the best organizers I've ever had the pleasure to work with. Right now they have a national campaign underway to resist these THAAD deployments that are aimed at China even though the Pentagon tells everyone they are intended for North Korea. It's the same shell game the US does with the missile offense deployments now going into Romania, Poland, and Turkey - all aimed at Russia. The US says they are aimed at Iran who actually has no nuclear weapons.

The shine has come off the American coin and the world ain't buying the script anymore. Sadly there is still half the population in the US that believes the official Washington line (including far too many 'liberals' who support Hillary Clinton).

The world is turning against corporate control of the planet. We are in for a rough patch ahead. The story today about a coup d'etat in Turkey possibly indicates the CIA's operatives inside the Turkish military have tried to take down President Erdogan because in recent days he dared to apologize to Russia for shooting down their plane and began to alter his war stance with Syria. My initial reaction is that US-NATO were not happy with that change of tune and decided to take Erdogan out. More on that one as things develop.

'We are Called to be Peacemakers'

The latest edition of This Issue
features two members of the Zumwalt 12 who were arrested at Bath Iron Works
(BIW) in Maine on June 18 when they blocked a shipyard road and gate prior to
the ‘christening’ of a new Zumwalt ‘stealth’ destroyer that will be aimed at China.

Poet and Jungian analyst John Peck (Brunswick) and nurse
practitioner and psychotherapist Connie Jenkins (Orono) describe their
motivations for risking arrest at the shipyard.

South Koreans Ignore Demands to Stop 'Useless Protest' against U.S. Missile Deployments

South Korean President Park Geun-hye has ordered the nation, "Stop the useless discussions on the US THAAD" missile defense (MD) deployment.

Korean citizens led by the major political party leaders, and most importantly local residents, are responding: "Democracy is not useless but the US THAAD might!" They demand a democratic process from both the Korean and American governments.

The deployment decision was made unilaterally without any explanation, discussion, and consultation. In other words, this issue is not just about the offensive US THAAD in the heart of Northeast Asia that threatens regional security; it is very much about the South Korean President’s and the US Army’s shameful disregard of its neighbors (China, Russia), Korea’s democracy and especially the residents in Seongju.

Please respect and protect democracy in Korea. Support the local residents—children, parents, city councils, teachers, farmers, and the elderly in Seongju City, Gyungbook-Taegu region, who are demanding a reasonable and respectful process of addressing this issue.

Seongju is a town of 45,000 people, many of them grow yellow melons for a living. South Korean media reported the THAAD system will be placed on a mountain where a South Korea air defense artillery unit is based. About 200 Seongju residents made a protest visit to Seoul's Defense Ministry on Wednesday.

The Pentagon maintains they need the THAAD (Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense) missile defense system to protect against North Korean missiles. But experts maintain that the system (already deployed in Guam and Japan) is actually aimed at and would be used against China and Russia. THAAD is just one of several varieties of MD now being deployed by the US as it encircles China and Russia.

MD systems are key elements in US first-strike attack planning. After the US launches a first-strike aimed at Russian or Chinese nuclear forces the MD systems would 'pick off' any retaliatory strikes that might be fired. The US Space Command annually war games such a US first-strike against Russia and China.

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

NBA Stars Speak Out

Getting Beyond Our Mental Colonization

I was out walking today and stopped in at a local shop for some things I needed. I had an excellent (eye to eye) talk with the shopkeeper about the US killing enterprise and climate change. The man gets it. He is praying that the public quickly wakes up.

We know we are fed a pack of lies - but we still keep listening to the Big Machine. Our minds get colonized and we become filled with fear. We like to be comfortable - avoid conflict - and who wants to fight the system anyway? Can't we all just get along?

I told the shop keeper (with two others waiting in line for me to finish my biz) that the US was crazy. We can't even beat Afghanistan and we want to take on Russia and China?!

But the US has not really been interested in 'beating' Afghanistan - the Pentagon always wanted to occupy Afghanistan and all of Central Asia - similar to Korea and Europe since those wars. The empire in action.

Instead it [the US-NATO decision to go for regime change in Syria] began in 2000, when Qatar proposed to construct a $10 billion, 1,500 kilometer pipeline through Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria and Turkey. Qatar shares with Iran the South Pars/North Dome gas field, the world’s richest natural gas repository. The international trade embargo until recently prohibited Iran from selling gas abroad. Meanwhile, Qatar’s gas can reach European markets only if it is liquefied and shipped by sea, a route that restricts volume and dramatically raises costs. The proposed pipeline would have linked Qatar directly to European energy markets via distribution terminals in Turkey, which would pocket rich transit fees. The Qatar/Turkey pipeline would give the Sunni kingdoms of the Persian Gulf decisive domination of world natural gas markets and strengthen Qatar, America’s closest ally in the Arab world. Qatar hosts two massive American military bases and the U.S. Central Command’s Mideast headquarters.

Of course, the Russians, who sell 70 percent of their gas exports to Europe, viewed the Qatar/Turkey pipeline as an existential threat. In Putin’s view, the Qatar pipeline is a NATO plot to change the status quo, deprive Russia of its only foothold in the Middle East, strangle the Russian economy and end Russian leverage in the European energy market. In 2009, Assad announced that he would refuse to sign the agreement to allow the pipeline to run through Syria “to protect the interests of our Russian ally.”

Assad further enraged the Gulf’s Sunni monarchs by endorsing a Russian-approved “Islamic pipeline” running from Iran’s side of the gas field through Syria and to the ports of Lebanon. The Islamic pipeline would make Shiite Iran, not Sunni Qatar, the principal supplier to the European energy market and dramatically increase Tehran’s influence in the Middle East and the world. Israel also was understandably determined to derail the Islamic pipeline, which would enrich Iran and Syria and presumably strengthen their proxies, Hezbollah and Hamas.

Secret cables and reports by the U.S., Saudi and Israeli intelligence agencies indicate that the moment Assad rejected the Qatari pipeline, military and intelligence planners quickly arrived at the consensus that fomenting a Sunni uprising in Syria to overthrow the uncooperative Bashar Assad was a feasible path to achieving the shared objective of completing the Qatar/Turkey gas link. In 2009, according to WikiLeaks, soon after Bashar Assad rejected the Qatar pipeline, the CIA began funding opposition groups in Syria. It is important to note that this was well before the Arab Spring-engendered uprising against Assad.

Zbigniew Brzezinski was born in Warsaw, Poland, in 1928, the son of a diplomat posted to Canada in 1938. In the private sector, Brzezinski serves as an international advisor of several major US/global corporations. Brzezinski's career with the US government spans several presidents, most notable is his time as National Security Adviser for President Jimmy Carter. (Brzezinski will always be known as the father of the plan to arm the
Afghan Taliban terrorists in order to drive the former Soviet Union out
of that country and region.) He also made sure to embed his strategic thinking by serving as co-chair of George Herbert Walker Bush's National Security Advisory Task Force (1988).

In his 1997 book, The Grand Chessboard, Brzezinski wrote, “Ukraine, a new and important space on the Eurasian chessboard, is a geopolitical pivot because its very existence as an independent country helps to transform Russia. Without Ukraine, Russia ceases to be a Eurasian empire.”

Brzezinski wrote that the US must dominate Eurasia in order to control the world. He said his plan would be an expensive long-term military occupation that the American people were not likely to support without a Pearl Harbor like incident to galvanize their thinking and emotions. 'Lucky for them' 9-11 just happens to come along and the rest is history.

Brzezinski was the man to identify Obama at Columbia University and bring him to the oligarchy for consideration as future White House material. Obama's coronation was long in the works. Just before Obama's first election Brzezinski was quoted in a British publication saying, "I vetted Obama early on." The oligarchy years ago determined that they needed more candidates of color, under their control, if they hoped to stay in power as the American population soon becomes majority black and Hispanic.

Brzezinski wrote:

In that context, how America 'manages' Eurasia is critical. Eurasia is the globe's largest continent and is geopolitically axial. A power that dominates Eurasia would control two of the world's three most advanced and economically productive regions. A mere glance at the map also suggests that control over Eurasia would almost automatically entail Africa's subordination, rendering the Western Hemisphere and Oceania geopolitically peripheral to the world's central continent. About 75 per cent of the world's people live in Eurasia, and most of the world's physical wealth is there as well, both in its enterprises and underneath its soil. Eurasia accounts for 60 per cent of the world's GNP and about three-fourths of the world's known energy resources.

So Syria and Russia are in the way of Brzezinski's grand vision. They both must be taken down even if that means the final war. You can see for yourself how things are stacking up these days.

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Turkey's Contradictory Role

Vijay Prashad explains how will the recent ISIS terror attack at the
Ataturk international airport might affect Turkey's relations in the
region, and also discusses Turkey's ambiguous position regarding Russia
and the insurgency in Syria - Newsclick and TRNN Joint Productio.

Sheep Dogging for Hillary

Bernie Sanders joined Hillary Clinton today in Portsmouth, New Hampshire to
declare his support for her candidacy for president. It's a sad day in
America to see this sell out of the 'revolution' he kept talking about during
his recent campaign.

You don't create revolution by turning around and supporting the candidate
of the banksters, the military industrial complex, the insurance industry, the
pharmaceutical corporations, the fossil fuel industry, the corporate media and the
rest of the pirate class.

One key reason Sanders did not get the nomination from his party is because
Clinton's forces CHEATED repeatedly to steal votes in primary states.
Arizona, New York and California were just three examples of systematic voter
suppression and vote count manipulation that occurred throughout the Democratic
Party primary season.

Early on in this process many on the left claimed that Sanders was sheep
dogging for Clinton - helping to round up young people to be moved into her
campaign after the senator from Vermont was properly dispatched. I think
this has turned out to be true.

What did Sanders get in return for his support for Hillary? He got a
couple planks added to the party platform (while failing to get any real action
on the bigger issues like TPP, Palestine, fracking). In the end Clinton
will be free to ignore these platform planks and once president she'll be free
to back-track on any other progressive positions she might take during the
campaign against Donald Trump.

I still maintain that Trump running for the Republican nomination was a
scripted part of this whole three-ring circus electoral side show. The
fact that Bill Clinton called Trump just days before he declared for the
Republican nomination race and was "encouraging" leaves me no doubt
that this has been a staged event from the start. The Washington Post coverage of that call
from Clinton to Trump can be seen here.

There will be legions of Sanders supporters who now feel betrayed by his
endorsement of Clinton. The little bit of hope he gave young people who
face multiple challenges (climate change, lack of jobs, college debt, endless war
costs) has been completely erased as Clinton stands against serious resolution
of all these issues.

Sanders could have been a transformative figure during this historical moment
that is ripe for change. He walked up to the edge of real revolutionary
leadership and backed down. Sanders slinked back into the waiting arms of
the corporate oligarchy that funds and directs the Clinton campaign.
Sanders will be used to sheep dog his remaining supporters into the Hillary
camp and after Clinton moves into the White House he will be a forgotten
figure.

It's indeed a sad thing to watch - but anyone with their eyes really open
should have seen it coming.

No THAAD in South Korea!

The Pentagon has already deployed THAAD (Theatre High Altitude Area Defense) 'missile defense' (MD) systems in Japan and in Guam. And now the US has announced the coming deployment of several THAAD batteries inside South Korea.

The Pentagon officially says the THAAD system would be used to protect against North Korean missiles. There are various layers to the US MD system and THAAD would be used to pick off missiles that fly at a higher altitude. But experts have explained that THAAD could not really protect South Korea because it is so close to North Korea and
incoming missiles flying on a lower trajectory could arrive in a matter of
few minutes - they'd fly under the THAAD umbrella.

Thus THAAD is really being deployed against China and Russia so the people of Korea understand this. The Korean people don't want to be a target while the US-Japan-South Korea military alliance provokes war with China and Russia.

Below is a summary (roughly translated) of a protest at one of the possible THAAD deployment sites..... thanks to Solidarity for Peace And Reunification of Korea (SPARK).

Eumsung,
Choongbuk is another candidate location for the deployment of the US 'missile defense' system called
THAAD in South Korea. On July 11, about 3,000 county people gathered to oppose THAAD,
according to the SPARK who screened a movie on the matter of THAAD
deployment on the site.

Mr. Lee Phil-yong, county governor of Eumsung said, “With the deployment of THAAD, Eumsung will be a
sea of fire by possible attacks. [....] I am willing to stop THAAD with
100,000 county people.” Seven people including county governor Lee, as
well as the chairman of county council and chairman of the anti-THAAD
committee shaved their heads in expression of opposition to THAAD.

The statement read that the people in the Choongbuk province oppose to
the deployment of the THAAD, which would threaten 1,600,000 Choongbuk
province people’s right to survival and its land.

The people of
Eumsung also expressed their concern about expected damage on their
local economy due to the possible deployment of the THAAD.

Monday, July 11, 2016

"Prayers for Peace and Love in Ukraine"

Residents of Kharkov walked on a march called "Prayers for peace and love in Ukraine", which began from the Sviatohirsk Lavra in Donbass and has already made it to Kharkov.

In the video filmed by eyewitnesses, people with St. George ribbons [honoring the Soviet defeat of Hitler's Army at the cost of 27 million Soviet lives - the ribbons now declared illegal to wear in the post-coup Ukraine] and badges with Nicholas II are visible among the participants.

It is noted that the Orthodox event was attended by several thousand people.

After Kharkov, the citizens in the march will head to Kiev.

The march will end in the Ukrainian capital on July 27th, before the celebration of the baptism of Kievan Rus.

These Are Real Political Leaders

These two short videos both display brilliant political and moral leadership. In the above case we see Dr. Cornell West testifying at a Democratic Party platform committee meeting where they were considering a proposal to include a harsh rebuke of Israel's brutal treatment of the Palestinian people. The committee rejected the proposal, as expected, due to the reality that the Democratic Party is fully controlled by Zionists. Washington knows it must toe the line when it comes to turning Israel into a regional military platform in the Middle East for the corporate global domination operation.

I recently learned that one other key reason that Libya was invaded by NATO is because there is a plan in the works to have Israel take control of Egypt. If you look at a map you find that Libya is on the western border of Egypt while Israel is on the other side. Egypt is sandwiched - keep your eyes on that one in the coming months/years.

In this video above we hear Labour Party (England) leader Jeremy Corbyn defending the poorest of the poor - the most marginalized people in his country. The conservatives inside the Labour Party (Tony Blair's minions) want Corbyn gone and have tried to use the Brexit fiasco as an excuse to drive him out of leadership. But since the Brexit vote, and the non-stop media barrage against Corbyn, more than 200,000 new members have joined Labour in an obvious show of support for him. Most importantly the labour unions in England support Corbyn.

So there are some similarities between the Labour Party and the Democratic Party in the US. In these current times there is a raging fight for control of both parties as the corporate oligarchies, led by the banking industries, are attempting to maintain their domination of the two parties. In England the left is holding on so far with Corbyn. In the US the Hillary Clinton forces have used trickery, voter suppression, outright stealing votes, and near total media control to ensure that reformer (not revolutionary) Bernie Sanders lost his run for power.

The fine points interest me. Why the difference between the two - Corbyn and Sanders? Why has one done better than the other?

I'd suggest that Corbyn is a much stronger and more deeply conscious man. For years while serving as a Member of Parliament (MP) from London he also served as chair of the national anti-war movement. He's been in the middle of these issues for years. He deeply understands and is willing to speak about the links between military empire and domestic collapse.

Bernie Sanders, while serving in the House of Representatives for Vermont, supported the Bill Clinton administration's bombings of Yugoslavia that helped to break up (balkanize) that Communist nation. This was 1999 and in response there were some protests in the US against this bombing. (On one occasion during the bombing the US hit the Chinese embassy in Belgrade and claimed it was a 'mistake'.) Few peace groups in America spoke out against Clinton's war. First because many of the peaceniks were 'liberal' Democrats and they didn't want to criticize their own party's leader. Secondly people who did protest that war were often red-baited in an organized campaign by the oligarchy to divide the people and keep them demobilized. The US-NATO march eastward toward Russia was then put into high gear.

In the Burlington, Vermont office of Rep. Bernie Sanders local peace activists sat and demanded a meeting with their Congressional representative about the Yugoslavia attack, but he refused to talk with them. Sanders was in the office at the time and still would not meet with them. Instead, Sanders called the cops and had these non-violent protesters taken to jail. On the way out the door renowned life-long pacifist David Dellinger said, "Bernie's not a peace guy."

The fact is that Bernie rarely mentioned military and foreign policy in his campaign and still could not sell himself to the ruling oligarchy as a 'reform' alternative to an unpopular Hillary Clinton at the very time the nation is demanding social and economic change. It shows how entrenched the oligarchy is inside the Democratic Party today in America. It's locked down.

So I'd say that Corbyn is miles beyond Sanders - both consciously and politically. And to illustrate the point - Corbyn has had more success because he's connected the deadly dots between foreign and domestic policy. Just last week Corbyn issued a public apology for the UK's participation in the Iraq war abomination.

As the blazing American summer streets heat up we currently see Black Lives Matter being painted, by the media and leading 'domestic militarization proponents', as a terrorist organization. Absolute bullshit!

But let's be clear about what is really doing on. The oligarchy needs to distract the masses as the global economy is crashed and drastic measures are taken to create the New World Order. They are pushing for 'chaos theory' here in the USA.

Ukraine, Libya, Iraq, Palestine, Venezuela, Brazil, Somalia, Syria and the Native American reservation system - same basic story - colonize the people by complete and total militarization. Thin out the populations. Take all public assets away. It is corporate piracy backed up by the banksters and their military thugs.

Mr. Big is filling up the poor houses again and this time around they plan to guard all the gates with the King's Army. This one is for real.

Now and then there is a crack in the door - it's our job to put our feet inside.

Sunday, July 10, 2016

Anti-NATO Protest in NYC

I was up early Saturday morning after a 4:00 am call from Delta airlines that said my 7:00 am flight from Portland to New York City had been cancelled. Mary Beth recalled that a new bus to NYC had recently started from Portland that was leaving at 6:30 am. I really wanted to attend the protest in New York yesterday that was scheduled for 2:00 pm in Times Square. This NATO protest, going on at the same time as NATO meetings in Poland, was for me a must attend event.

MB drove me to Portland and I was able to get on the bus which only had three seats left when I bought my ticket. The ride took 5 1/2 hours and I arrived in NYC with time to spare.

The event drew just over 100 people - not a big crowd but most peace groups in the US are not focusing on the NATO issue yet. There still remains lots of recycled red baiting in this country of anyone who dares criticize Washington's foreign policy toward Russia.

Even a couple long-time peaceniks that I've worked with for years have accused me of being 'Putinized'. But really I don't care what they think anymore - how can anyone stand frozen while the US-NATO encircle Russia and China with bases and 'missile defense' systems? How can any self respecting peacenik idly stand by and watch the provocative US-NATO create a coup in Ukraine and launch, fund and direct a civil war right on Russia's border trying to draw Moscow into making a response? The neo-cons inside the Obama administration are playing with fire and many peace folks are twiddling their thumbs!

We stood yesterday for an hour on a corner right in the heart of Times Square which was packed with people. Many took flyers and some stood around a while to listen to the speakers at our protest. Lots of alternative media covered the event.

After the protest eight of us went to the home of Rachel Clark who was the Japanese-American woman that served as our translator last December when our Veterans For Peace (VFP) delegation went to Okinawa. She made an amazing meal and we all sat around for several hours talking politics.

This morning I was picked up by Korean-American activist Juyeon Rhee who will be leading three of us from VFP on a delegation to Korea in July/August. Last year Juyeon was my guide on a similar trip to Korea during the same period.

I am at the LaGuardia airport now in NYC waiting for my return flight home.

I'm glad I came for the protest yesterday. When it comes to speaking out against the provocative, destabilizing, and expensive NATO imperial war project more opportunities are urgently needed to stand up against this US dominated military machine.